
explain, or interpret even divine laws." "The Pope can modify divine law,
since his power is not of man but of God, and he acts as vicegerent of God
upon earth with most ample power of binding and loosing his sheep."—
Ferraris' Ecclesiastical Dictionary, art., "The Pope."
In an old volume in the British Museum Library, published in 1545, the
following statement is attributed to Melanchthon. We copy the old English
spelling:
"He changeth the tymes and lawes that any of the sixe worke days com-
manded of God will make them unholy and idle dayes when he lyste, or of
their owne holy dayes abolished make worke dayes agen, or when they changed
ye Saterday into Sondaye. . . . They have changed God
's lawes and turned
them into their owne tradicions to be kept above God's precepts."—"Exposi-
cion
of Daniel the Prophete, Gathered out of Philipp Melanchthon, Johan
Ecolampadius, Etc.," by George Joye, 1545,
p. 119.
6.
How were the saints to fare under this intolerant system? Verse
25; Matt. 24:21, 22.
NOTE.—"After the signal of open martyrdom had been given in the Canons
of Orleans, there followed the extirpation of the Albigenses under the form of
a crusade, the establishment of the Inquisition, the cruel attempts to extinguish
the Waldenses, the martyrdoms of the Lollards, the cruel wars to exterminate
the Bohemians, the burning of Huss and Jerome, and multitudes of other
confessors, before the Reformation ; and afterwards
, the ferocious cruelties
practiced in the Netherlands, the martyrdoms of Queen Mary's reign, the
extinction by fire and sword of the Reformation in Spain and Italy, by fraud
and open persecution in Poland, the Massacre of Bartholomew, the persecu-
tion of the Huguenots by the League, the extirpation of the Vaudois, and all
the cruelties and prejudices connected with the revocation of the Edict of
Nantes. These are the more open and conspicuous facts which explain the
prophecy, besides the slow and secret murders of the holy tribunal of the In-
quisition."—"The
First Two Visions of Daniel," Rev. T. R. Birks, M. A., Lon-
don, 1845,
pp. 248, 249.
7.
What do Roman Catholics admit concerning persecution?
ANSWER.—"The church has persecuted. Only a tyro in church history will
deny that. . . . One hundred and fifty years after Constantine the Donatists
were persecuted, and sometimes put to death. . . . Protestants were perse-
cuted in France and Spain with the full approval of the church authorities.
We have always defended the persecution of the Huguenots, and the Spanish
Inquisition. Wherever and whenever there is honest Catholicity, there will
be a clear distinction drawn between truth and error, and Catholicity and all
forms of heresy. When she thinks it good to use physical force, she will use
it. . . . But will the Catholic Church give bond that she will not persecute at
all? Will she guarantee absolute freedom and equality of all churches and all
faiths? The Catholic Church gives no bonds for her good behavior."—The
Western Watchman (R. C.), Dec. 24, 1908.
"There can be no doubt, therefore, that the church claimed the right to use
physical coercion against formal apostates. . . . She adapts her discipline to
the times and circumstances in order that it may fulfill its salutary purpose.
Her own children are not punished by fines, imprisonment, or other temporal
punishments, but by spiritual pains and penalties, and heretics are treated as
she treated pagans."—The
Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XI, p. 703, art, "Per-
secution."
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